Friday, February 29, 2008

Are we short changing Millenial students?

As an undergraduate in the early 1990s, I learned how to research in a library. We had to take a research class. That was partly due to the Internet not being what it is today - and partly because that's what you do in college (go to the library).

Apparently, today's students are still going to the library - in fact Millenials go to the library twice as much as older adults. However, although today's college students do a great deal of their research online, they are not being taught proper research techniques. In fact, as Millenials, they are expected to just know how to research on the web simply because they grew up with computers.

I think we do a lot of complaining about young adults these days. Especially when they can't seem to do things we as Boomers and Xers think are basic skills (like research). But who is to blame here? How many Millenials are professors or college adminstrators?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Suzanne,

Your link suggests that I agree with the assertion that "they are expected to just know how to research on the web simply because they grew up with computers" - I disagree strongly with this statement, though perhaps for slightly different reasons than you. My opinion is that there is a 'Google Generation' but that it is a gross misconception to believe that they somehow know how to research and, indeed, how to learn naturally, somehow, with the tools at their disposal.

John